By Cassandra Pollock, Texas Tribune
Texas House Speaker of the House Dade Phelan said Tuesday that he was concerned about the government. Greg AbbottRecent vow to refuse part of the state budget to fund LegislatureIt lists how the move to block such salaries affects staff and legislative bodies.
“I understand the governor’s frustration. [lawmakers] They were the governor’s priority, my priority, and the priority of many members of Congress, “Beaumont Republican Ferran said in an interview with the Texas Tribune.” My only The concern is how it will affect staff, especially those who live here in Austin. Austin is not a cheap place to feed and raise families and children. “
Abbott’s oath A Democratic strike in the House of Representatives happened late Sunday night after blocking the passage of Senate Bill 7, his priority election bill to review Texas’ voting rights.
“There is no reward for those who give up their responsibilities,” Abbott said. I said in a tweet.
Ferran also said that under the Constitution, even if Abbott exercised his veto, he believed that lawmakers would still need to be paid. Congress pays $ 221 a day daily during the session, plus $ 600 a month.
In an interview with Tribune late Tuesday, Abbott claimed he would still reject that part of the budget, and Ferran said, “If you’re worried about it, he needs to do something about it.” Told.
“He has a role to play here,” Abbott said. “He’s not an outside audience. He’s a participant and needs to step up and get the job done.”
The governor said he would bring the legislature back to Austin and work overtime to pass the legislation, but it is not yet clear when. Congressmen will be back this fall for a special session to redraw the state’s political map.
Mr. Ferran said that if Abbott vetoed by June 20, the budget in question would cover the fiscal year beginning September 1, so lawmakers would have to address this issue. He said he could work early overtime. ..
The speaker also said he was concerned about how the move would affect legislative bodies such as the Legislative Budget Committee.
“It wasn’t they who decided we would break the quorum,” Ferran said.
Abbott is the only elected officer who can decide which issues to include on the agenda of a special session and when to do so. He said both the voting bill and the priority bail bill, which were not normally advanced during the session, will be added to the special session agenda.
Ferran said Tuesday that lawmakers could go further on some of the issues the state legislature discussed on how to strengthen the state’s power grid after the February winter storm left millions of homes. Asked. And business without electricity for days.
While lawmakers are submitting the Abbott bill It makes some changes to the state‘s power gridDo not go through the steps required by some experts to structurally change the Texas electricity market after a major storm, such as requiring power plants to prepare critical infrastructure for extreme weather events. did.
“I think we need more discussion about securitization and to make sure the grid is exactly what is needed in winter as well as summer,” he said.
With SB7 [the voting bill]Ferran expressed interest in taking a more subdivided approach at a special meeting, suggesting that the issue could be split into multiple bills rather than an omnibus bill.
According to him, the move could help lawmakers “feel more comfortable with the content of each bill and give everyone a better opportunity to scrutinize their ideas.”
Ferrand, who was elected chairman of the first term by a member of the House of Representatives in January, said on Tuesday that he would almost certainly seek his next term with a mallet.
Ferran said the odds were “99%, because I haven’t talked to my wife yet.”
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